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A Crown Fit for a Continent

It is often called the “Crown of the Continent,” and for good reason too. With vaulting granite peaks soaring two miles high and ice carved valleys bejeweled by 762 lakes that sparkle like diamonds and sapphires in the mid-day sun, Glacier National Park is every bit a crown fit for a continent.

Glacier shares this stretch of the Rocky Mountains that runs from central Montana to southern Canada with neighboring Waterton Lake National Park just across the border in Alberta. Limited roadways, however, make travel between the two parks more difficult than their close proximity suggests. Only after our arrival did we discover that reaching Waterton from our location at Glacier’s western entrance required a nearly six hour round-trip drive (we’d have been much closer had we set up camp in the east; note for next time).

The “Three Arches” of Glacier’s Going to the Sun Road

Even getting around Glacier can be challenging due to a near-perpetual winter season. Going to the Sun Road, the one and only thoroughfare crossing the park, is closed nine months out of the year because of weather. Logan Pass can accumulate as much as 80 feet of snow and take work crews until late June to clear. But once opened, the drive is spectacular.

In addition to sprawling mountain vistas, some of the park’s abundant wildlife occasionally makes a roadside appearance. On our climb up the western slope toward the continental divide, we had the good fortune of being repeatedly greeted by a family of mountain goats, the park’s official symbol.

But to really experience Glacier, you need to get out of your car and on to the park’s 740 miles of hiking trails. Here you’ll experience everything from a cliff hanging adventure on the Highline Trail . . .

The Garden Wall section of Glacier’s Highline Trail

. . . to a quiet stroll through “spooky” woods on the Trail of the Cedars.

Along the same 10 mile trek to Iceberg Lake we encountered both wildflowers . . .

Mountain wildflowers along Glacier’s Iceberg Lake trail

. . . and snow, although we were told the lake’s namesake icebergs were much smaller than usual for our visit. In fact, all of the ice is smaller than usual these days. The park once boasted 150 named glaciers. Today that number has shrunk to just 25. By 2020 scientists expect they’ll disappear altogether, leaving Glacier National Park glacierless.

I haven’t been to Glacier National Park but I’ve been to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. On the Crypt Lake Hike (which is one of my all-time favourite hikes) we actually crossed the border into Montana but there was a huge mountain range preventing any ‘illegal’ crossings 🙂

I would love to get to Glacier NP one day. The Highline Trail looks amazing. Thanks for sharing your photographs!

Brian, thank you so much for this post. We had contemplated visiting Glacier when we were in the Canadian Rockies but we were running out of time. It was a bit too far off our path. I really enjoyed seeing it through your lens and it is on our “to do” list now.

Glacier was a favorite spot to visit, it is sad the crown is losing its jewels due to climate change…We got another wake up call this week in the northeast, perhaps this will spur some action (I can dream can’t I?)

We can certainly dream. But unfortunately we awaken to an entire presidential election season where the issue wasn’t raised once by either side. Seems like a huge step backwards from even four years ago.

It’s mostly (but not entirely) “Everywhere Once.” I generally feel that revisiting a place is a missed opportunity to go somewhere new. A few places are evergreen, though. Paris comes to mind. We’ll be back there again and again. On our eventual trip back east we’re looking forward to hitting New Orleans and Key West again, too. But that list of places is pretty short.

Hi Brian. We are on a road trip (9 months so far), summering in Newfoundland/NovaScotia/Labrador (www.zippitygoglobal.com)
We expect to hit Waterton/Glacier in the Fall. Coming from the East side, what is the ideal route to “see it all”? Thanks for your feedback. We are enjoying your photos a lot.

Glacier truly is a beautiful park Brian, and your photos are gorgeous! The Going to the Sun Road is a drive I’ll never forget. We camped there last summer and had similar mountain goat sightings, but our most memorable animal encounters were the freeloader mice we picked up in our camper. 🙂 ~Terri

[…] and Oregon coast, traversed Colorado’s Million Dollar Highway, and ascended Glacier’s Going to the Sun Road. After all of that, we still think the 127-mile stretch of pavement connecting Anchorage to Seward […]

[…] The five-and-a-half mile walking trail linking the villages of Fira and Oia might well be the best hike I’ve ever done. I like my outdoor efforts to come with a payoff. If I’m going to suffer and sweat hiking for several hours, there had better be something spectacular waiting at the end like a sweeping mountain vista or a sparkling blue lake with icebergs floating in it. […]